Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Eight losses in a row. Two in a row at home to Pittsburgh... a team that hadn't won two straight road games since May 14th & 15th in Chicago.

Chicago... yeah... the Rockies lost both of their games in Chicago. I remember that. I remember thinking THAT road trip through Chicago, Houston and Kansas City was going to be rock bottom of the season.

Wrong.

Honestly, I kinda wish the Rockies could go back to being as average and underwhelming as they were then, because the team we're seeing now is actually several notches below the they were at that point.

Alright, I give, it doesn't matter who is putting the fingers down for Cookie at this point -- he's missing the target, elevating the sinker, hanging the curve, walking the pitcher, doing just about anything wrong a pitcher can do wrong.

That begs the question... what has better sink right now: Cook's sinker or Cook's trade value?

The pitching wasn't the only problem tonight.

No, no, no, no, no, no... offense.

Well, early offense -- three hits in the first inning, one that struck Pittsburgh's SP Ross Ohlendorf in the head, ending his evening early. Thankfully he's okay, but the moment he exited, so did the Rockies offense.

Wil Ledezma, out of baseball since 1995 it seems, throws a perfect inning and a third. Javier Lopez allows a solo HR to Carlos Gonzalez, but DJ Carrasco, Joel Hanrahan, and Octavio Dotel all throw a scoreless inning to finish the Rockies out.

Nary a whimper (or base runner) over the last nine outs.

Let me run this by you...

The two-time defending National League Champions fired their hitting coach last week. Why? Because their offense had completely stagnated for almost two months.

They didn't make any damn excuse for Chase Utley being hurt, or Jimmy Rollins being hurt, or Carlos Ruiz being hurt. They demanded results from their offense. When they didn't get those results, they made the move.

What happened after they fired Milt Thompson? They won eight in a row. That winning streak is still on-going.

Meanwhile, the Rockies offense has been stagnant since Day 1 of the season. Do they have the guts to make a move? Of course not.

Blame injuries? Sure, why not? The national media can't mention the Rockies without mentioning the injuries, so that excuse seems like a pretty convienient one to lean on. Don Baylor, underachieving and apathetic offense... off the hook. Free passes for all of you.

Ridiculous.

I could probably rant all night about what we're witnessing with this team. I figure I might as well save a little bit of it for later. This thing isn't turning around tomorrow, or Friday. The frustration is only going to keep building. Might as well let it out slowly.

Let me put this into a perspective that will capture your attention right away. Chicago Cubs fans dislike Ryan Theriot more than Colorado Rockies fans dislike Franklin Morales. That is not exaggeration, that is absolute fact. Not only is it fact, but they are completely justified in doing so.

Theriot is not a smart baseball player. You think some of the nonsensical base running we've seen from the Rockies lately is awful? Ryan Theriot, when he does reach base, runs into outs more than anyone I've seen. No instincts and no fundamental understanding of situations.

That doesn't just include base running. He's a notorious first pitch swinger. Batter before him walks on four pitches? Theriot swings at the first pitch and pops up. It's actually a major story among Cubs fans when Theriot doesn't swing at the first pitch. He's just so set in his ways that he refuses to adjust his style. Every situation is the same to him.

I don't know how the Rockies view him defensively. I assume they're thinking he's a multi-position type player. That's total BS. Theriot is an awful SS. He's a less that good 3B. He's a decent 2B, but that's all he is.

He's an awful fit for this Rockies baseball team. AWFUL. It makes no sense on any level. Whoever it is that actually sees value in him is seeing something so completely obscure or meaningless that it's not registering with me.

With Troy Tulowitzki, Clint Barmes, Johnny Herrera, Chris Nelson, EY, all in the mix for this Rockies team... no, don't want to hear Theriot's name in conjunction with the Rockies or Coors Field again after this weekend series with the Cubs. Let him go to San Diego or somewhere where we can actually benefit from him.

Big win for LA to start a crticial road series. They stole this game for two reasons.

1) In a rare pinch-hitting appearance, Andre Ethier delivered the only two runs of the game with a single in the 7th inning. The guy is about as clutch as it gets.

2) Pitching, pitching, and more pitching. Chad Billingsly six shutout innings. Hong-Chi-Kuo strikes out FIVE in two scoreless innings. Big Brozton closes the door in the 9th. That's a nice formula for the Dodgers.

Your top offensive guy gets a night off and he still manages to deliever the biggest hit of the game. Your pitching makes that hit stand up. That's winning baseball. And that's also a manager that truly pushes the right buttons.

San Diego got another nice start from Jon Garland: 6 2/3, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. They also received two hits from Yorvit Torrealba, who raised his average to .310.

Tonight's pitching matchup features Hiroki Kuroda vs Clayton Richard. I'm taking LA to steal another and to really start position themselves for their run.

The Josh Johnson/Matt Cain pitching matchup proved to be as even as it looked on paper. Each man lasted seven innings, walked three, and allowed three runs. Neither man factored in the decision.

San Francisco won the battle of the bullpens behind Sergio Romo (win) and Brian Wilson (save). Juan Uribe launched the go-ahead HR in the 8th. I swear all of his homers mean something. Edgar Renteria tacked on two more with his own HR. That was important because Dan Uggla hit his 2nd (solo) HR of the game in the 9th.

Cody Ross added a two-run blast for Florida.

Potential Rockies trade target, Jorge Cantu sat this game out. The beat writers indicated the team is quite displeased with Cantu's defensive effort lately, and are concerned he's distracted by the trade rumors.

Poor defense and lack of focus actually seems like a good fit for the Rockies these days. I can see why they would be interested.

Game 3 of this 4 game set takes place tonight. Alex Sanabia goes for the firsh, the predictably unpredictable Jonathan Sanchez will be San Fran's counter. I like Florida and their right-handed power to take this one and get back over .500.